February 4, 2020
Dr. Marisa Giggie, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine for the College of Community Health Sciences, was named vice chair of the College’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine.
Giggie, who joined the department in 2009, also directs the Betty Shirley Clinic at University Medical Center, which CCHS operates, and the College’s Behavioral Medicine Fellowship for Family Medicine, the only program of its kind in the U.S.
In addition, Giggie is director of Mental Health Services at the Tuscaloosa County Jail, chief psychiatrist at Brewer-Porch Children’s Center in Tuscaloosa, and medical director and psychiatrist at Reprieve for Women, a Tuscaloosa treatment program for women with substance abuse issues.
Giggie, a child and adolescent, general and forensic psychiatrist, cares for both pediatric and adult patients in her UMC-based psychiatric clinic. She teaches third- and fourth-year medical students, family medicine residents and behavioral medicine fellows in both clinical and traditional didactic settings. Her scholarly interests include addiction, correctional psychiatry, violence prevention and trauma.
Giggie received a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Smith College and a master’s degree in Public Affairs from The LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. She completed a post-baccalaureate degree in pre-medical studies from Bryn Mawr College before completing medical school at Medical College of Pennsylvania/Hahnemann School of Medicine in Philadelphia. She completed a residency in psychiatry, fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry and a fellowship in forensic psychiatry from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio.
